Chapter 3: Not Poison

Draco Malfoy had always been one to trust his instincts. However, even though his instincts were yelling at him to ignore the pounding on his door, he instead found himself stumbling forward half-asleep, glancing at the clock once (Who the bloody hell pounds on a person's door at seven in the morning?) before opening the wooden door to owlishly blink at an irate Hermione. He blinked a couple more times before it sank in that he should invite her in. Once he did, she marched in ten paces, turned on her heel and started berating him. He wasn't quite sure what she was yelling about, but it was obviously very upsetting to her considering the decibel at which her voice seemed to be fixed. Words such as irresponsible, immature, dangerous, and pratt caught his attention and he sat heavily on the end of his bed while she continued her tirade, hands on hips, eyes set in a death glare, and hair sticking out at odd angles.

He eyed the brunette witch in confusion. Nothing she was saying was making sense, though that might have been because his mind was still quite sleep-addled. She paused to take a long breath and Draco took the opportunity to hold up a hand and stop her. "Hang on, hang on…" he mumbled. "I'm sorry, but just what the bloody hell are you on about?"

Her visage grew darker and she clenched her fists. "Haven't you been listening at all? I'm talking about your stunt yesterday with the tea! What if I had gotten truly sick? What if I'd had to go to Saint Mungo's?"

"Saint Mungos? What…?"

"You poisoned my tea!"

Silence filled the room after her proclamation in which Draco sat and simply stared at her. She's stark raving mad, he decided. There was no other explanation. "Poison?" he asked, unwilling to believe what she was saying.

"You poisoned my tea! I was sick all day yesterday and ended up throwing-up in the afternoon. Are you happy with yourself?"

"Hermione, I can assure you that I did not poison you. I honestly don't know why you were sick yesterday."

She huffed and crossed her arms. "I don't believe you."

"Believe what you will," he shrugged. "But I didn't do anything to that tea. I drank it too, remember?"

Hermione glowered at him. "You fixed my cup. You could've done anything to it!"

"Yes, I slipped in some hemlock right in front of you!" he retorted.

She rolled her eyes, "I wouldn't put it past you…"

"Hermione, I don't know how to convince you, but I didn't have anything to do with your being sick yesterday. If you'd like to yell at me some more, feel free, but could we set it for a bit later? I'd like to sleep in a bit more."

"Argh!" she growled. "You haven't changed one bit! You're still just a vile, loathsome, evil, cockroach!"

With that, she turned and exited his room, slamming the door on the way out. Draco sat still on the bed for a moment, only then realizing that he'd been naked from the waist up the entire time she'd been ranting at him. Shrugging, he scooted back on the bed and slipped back under the covers to sleep for another hour or so.

o O o O o O o

Hermione grumbled and growled the entire way back to her room, earning her a disapproving look from an elderly wizard passing in the other direction. Draco had denied poisoning her, but her symptoms had started after drinking the tea. It had to be the culprit. She let out a frustrated growl as she entered her room and picked up her coat, scarf, and gloves. While she did feel somewhat better now, she was still quite woozy and a trip to Saint Mungo's might be prudent in case the idiot did put something actually harmful into her tea.

It took her only a handful of minutes to make her way down to the designated apparating area in the Leaky Cauldron then turn sharply and make herself magically appear in Saint Mungo's waiting room. She made her way to the front desk and found the sign that designated which floors treated what kind of injury and decided that Floor Three: Potion and Plant Poisoning would be where she could find help. Following the signs, she made her way to the third floor check-in desk where she waited her turn behind an ancient witch with a nasty purple rash spread across her arms and face. After checking-in, it took another thirty minutes or so before a hassled looking healer in green robes emerged and called her name. "Hermione Weasley?"

Hermione stood and made her way forward. "Hermione? Is that really you?" the healer asked.

Hermione looked up and upon closer inspection found that the healer before her was none other than Padma Patil. "Padma, how nice to see you," she said, though she didn't really want a gossip like Padma knowing that she had been poisoned by Draco Malfoy. However it would likely take another thirty minutes before she could see someone else, so she decided to strike down her pride and go with it.

"Wow, I haven't seen you since… well… probably sixth year at Hogwarts. So you did marry Ron then? How are you guys?" she asked leading Hermione down the hall. "I'm sorry, stupid question considering where we are."

Hermione had to grin a little at that. "It's fine, I know what you meant. I've actually hit a bit of a rough patch right now."

"Oh, well lets see what we can do to make you feel better," Padma said before ushering her into a small examination room. "What's the problem now? My chart here says that you think you were poisoned?"

"Yes," Hermione sighed. "In my morning tea yesterday. I think it was just supposed to be a mean spirited joke, but I didn't feel well nearly all of yesterday and ended the day in the bathroom tasting lunch a second time." For some reason, she was hesitant to say who she thought poisoned her.

Padma grimaced. "Hmm… what were your symptoms exactly?"

"Dizziness, nausea, physically ill…"

The dark haired witch noted Hermione's observations down on her notepad and let out a sigh. "It's not much to go on. There's a lot of poisons that cause those symptoms. My guess is that since you're feeling better now, that you got most of it out when you threw-up, but I'm going to take a blood sample and a urine sample to run through the lab, okay?"

Hermione nodded and took the cup that Padma handed her for the urine sample. "There's a bathroom just down the hall to the left. When you're done, put the cover on the sample and put it in the little door in the wall then wait in the waiting room. I'm going to take the blood sample now so we can get to work right away."

Hermione held still while Padma drew a blood sample from the crook of her elbow. After a bandage had been applied, she went in search of the bathroom and found it easily enough. It was a bit awkward trying to catch her own urine in the small cup, but she managed and put the cover on before passing it through the small door in the wall that led to the lab.

It took another hour and a half before she was called back in by Padma who had her sit down on one of the two chairs before starting. "Alright, I've got good news and better news."

Hermione raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to continue. "The good news is that you were never poisoned yesterday."

"But why…" Hermione started, but stopped when Padma held up a hand.

"The better news is that you're pregnant."

Hermione's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "I'm… what?"

"There are brochures and books available that can give you more information on how to keep yourself and the baby healthy. I'm sure that even though this is a bit of a surprise, that Ron will be very happy!" she tried to reassure. "You're a smart witch, Hermione. I know you guys can get prepared for this. If you don't mind, I'd like to set you up with an appointment with an obstetrician as soon as possible. I'm guessing what you were feeling yesterday was morning sickness."

"But… it wasn't morning," Hermione objected stupidly.

Padma chuckled a little. "Morning sickness doesn't always happen in the morning. Sometimes it's in the morning, or afternoon, or night, or sometimes it's all day long."

"I… I need to sit down," Hermione mumbled.

"You are sitting, Hermione," Padma said looking concerned now.

Hermione slumped against the back of the chair, her breathing coming in sharp gasps. "I – I can't breathe!" she gasped out.

"Hermione, listen to me," Padma said calmly, placing a hand on each of her shoulders and kneeling so she was eye level with the panicking woman.

Hermione couldn't hear her though and her vision started to tunnel. She sucked in breaths at a rapid rate and her heart was pounding in her ears. "Hermione!" Padma's voice called out to her, but it was the last thing she heard as darkness overwhelmed her.

o O o O o O o

The first thought Hermione had upon regaining consciousness was that she wasn't very comfortable. Whatever she was laying on was very hard and actually felt quite like the floor. It was at that point that she heard a male voice say, "She's coming around now."

"What happened?" she asked groggily.

"You fainted, Miss," the voice replied. "Have you had anything to eat or drink today?"

"No," Hermione replied shaking her head slightly, but stopped when that caused a wave of dizziness to wash over her.

"Well there's your problem," the voice continued. "Do you think you can sit up?"

Groaning slightly, Hermione tried sitting up, but ended up laying back down. "Too dizzy," she grumbled.

"Alright, that's fine. Healer Patil informed us that you are about eleven weeks pregnant. You probably just need some something to eat and drink, but I'd like to play it safe. We're gonna put you in a bed and hook up an IV line to get some fluids in you right away."

Hermione could only nod along. She truly felt horrible and couldn't object to anything seeing as even sitting up felt like too much at the moment. She still hadn't opened her eyes, but she could feel a couple of people gently shifting her onto a stretcher before magicking it up so that it floated smoothly along. A couple of minutes later, they again shifted her onto a bed. A pinching feeling in the back of her hand let her know that they'd inserted the IV. "There we go," the man patted her arm. "Right then, I'm going to make a few of my rounds now, but I'll be back in a while to check on you."

Hermione squinted open her eyes slightly to see the grey haired healer next to her. "Who are you?" she asked.

"Pardon me," he said as though just remembering that he'd never properly introduced himself. "I'm Healer Goodfellow. Now, I'll be back. You just rest."

Hermione nodded and closed her eyes again. It was obvious that she hadn't been out for very long. However her head still felt full of cotton and her throat was very dry. It was at that moment that she remembered the reason for her fainting spell. She was pregnant. Healer Gooodfellow had said so as well. What had he said? Eleven weeks? Oh dear sweet lord… she thought to herself, thinking of the four martini's she had the other night. She'd just have to hope that no damage had been done. Her thoughts shifted to Ron again. It was his child. There was no other man that she'd been with, so there was no doubt, but she didn't think he'd really want to know. In fact, she was certain that he wouldn't be very happy about a child considering that that was the precise reason she'd left him. She wanted children; he did not. However, this thought brought up the question of how she'd gotten pregnant. They'd always used protection… unless… Stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid! she berated herself. She couldn't remember exactly when… well… it was probably close to eleven weeks ago, but she remembered a night where they'd been so angry at each other. They'd been yelling and then suddenly they were kissing. Their rage had fueled their passion and she'd thought the next morning that things would be okay, but it turned out that it had been angry sex… that's all. And there had been no protection.

What was she going to do now? She knew she should tell Ron; he was the father after all, and she knew that despite Ron's feelings about having children, Mrs. Weasley would be absolutely delighted about another grandchild. Would having a child be able to pull her and Ron back together? She doubted it. He was always very adamant on the subject of children. She strongly suspected it had something to do with how many siblings he had. No… this wouldn't help their relationship at all. The divorce would still go through and she would be a single mom.

Hermione didn't realize she was crying until she took in a deep shuddering breath and it came back out as a choked sob. Tears slipped silently down her cheeks as she turned on her side and curled into a ball.

o O o O o O o

"Thank you, Mr. Malfoy," the nurse at the reception desk said, handing back his ID.

He gave her a smile as he took it back and placed it back in his wallet. Giving her a nod, he made his way down the hall at St. Mungos. Another former patient of his had recently had a child and she and her husband had asked that he stop by. He smiled as he made his way down the maternity ward. However he stopped a second later, his smile turning to a frown. He could hear someone crying… sobbing actually… just through the door ahead. Florence and Paul could wait a bit longer…

He moved slowly now to peer in the slightly open door. It wasn't quite open enough to see in so he pushed it a little and was completely surprised by the sight that met him. There, lying on the first bed was none other than Hermione Granger-Weasley, and she was crying her heart out. Draco had no doubt that she would not appreciate his intruding on such a vulnerable moment, but he really didn't care. Taking the initiative, he didn't say a word, but walked to her and gently placed a hand on her shaking back.

She inhaled in surprise and turned around to see who had touched her. Her face fell even more, which cut Draco to the quick, and she tried to push him away. "Go away, Malfoy," she muttered.

He ignored her and instead sat on the edge of the bed and gently rubbed her back. She didn't try to push him away again, but she did try to regain control of herself. Slowly, her sobs grew less frequent and she was left with small hiccoughs. "What are you doing here?" she asked, not turning to look at him.

"I could ask you the same," he replied. He sighed and after a moment continued. "I'm here to visit a friend. She and her husband just had a baby."

She nodded absently. "Great… you should go… see them I mean."

Draco shook his head slightly even though she couldn't see him. It was obvious she was holding things in so as not to appear so weak in front of him, and he wasn't going to have that because it was equally obvious that she needed someone right now and he highly doubted the ginger haired weasel would be that someone. So instead of leaving, he sat down on the edge of the bed and began to gently rub his hand over her back soothingly. She shuddered again, though he wasn't sure if it was from having this level of contact with him or because of cold, so he pulled the blanket from the end of the bed up and over her shoulders, his hand returned to rubbing her back with the blanket between them now. "Why are you here, Hermione?" he asked. He'd found that with difficult patients, it was sometimes better to be direct.

She sucked in an uneven breath and waited nearly a full minute before answering, "I came to see if you really did poison me."

"But they wouldn't put you in the maternity ward for poisoning."

"No," she agreed. He didn't say anything and waited. Patience was a virtue he'd been blessed with at birth. It seemed that he could wait for hours for what he wanted. Most times it made the other party nervous and they eventually cracked. It was only three minutes later that Hermione cracked. "I'm… I found out that I'm… pregnant." Her voice was small and very quiet. If Draco hadn't been listening for it, he probably wouldn't have heard her.

His hand paused in mid-rub for only a second before resuming its motion. "Ron?" he asked even though he knew the answer. Hermione nodded and he could feel her starting to shake again. She was losing the control she'd worked so hard for earlier. "This is the reason isn't it? That you and he are splitting?" Hermione didn't answer, but her shaking grew stronger and Draco realized that she was holding in her sobs, crying silently. Draco felt a strange feeling surge through him. Hermione was crying at the thought of Ron being her child's father. There was something seriously wrong if you were so saddened at something like that. Going off of instinct now, Draco repositioned himself on the bed, sitting with both legs stretched out on the starched sheets and with his back propped by the pillows against the head of the bed. Using his new leverage, he wrapped both arms around the shuddering form of the brunette woman beside him and shifted her so that she was curled up in his lap and his arms could easily cradle her. She didn't resist; it seemed that she'd stopped caring whom he was and instead was taking comfort from wherever she could get it. Another slash of that same strange emotion swept through him and this time he recognized it as possessiveness.

This utterly confused him. He had no right to feel possessive over Hermione Granger (he'd subconsciously dropped the Weasley from her last name). They'd never been friends; they'd barely even talked civilly to each other. So why was it that this possessive feeling was curled in the pit of his stomach? Draco looked down at the wild brown hair tucked against his chest and the possessiveness tightened. Whatever had caused it to stir, Draco find he didn't really mind. She needed his help right now, and that's exactly what he was going to give her. If she needed some comforting, he'd give her that too. Mind made up, Draco settled himself more comfortably against the pillows and pulled Hermione tighter against him.

o O o O o O o

A/N: Okay, so this took a super long time to write. Not even sure I like how it came out, but we'll go with it. This story wasn't going to be my next project, but it just might become it now, depending on the kind of reviews I get. If people want me to continue, please let me know. If you think it's too cliché and has been done before, also let me know.

Thanks,

Ismira Daugene

Harry Potter (c) J.K. Rowling